Feb. 24, 2025 – As Black History Month draws to a close, browse this collection of books that celebrate Black joy, all year round, from romantic fiction to celebratory cookbooks to collections focused on art, poetry, and the great outdoors.
Browse the books below and put titles on hold in our catalog by clicking on the covers.
Fiction
"A Love Song for Ricki Wilde" by Tia Williams
When regal nonagenarian, Ms. Della, invites her to rent the bottom floor of her Harlem brownstone, Ricki jumps at the chance for a fresh beginning. She leaves behind her family, wealth, and chaotic romantic decisions to realize her dream of opening a flower shop. And just beneath the surface of her new neighborhood, the music, stories and dazzling drama of the Harlem Renaissance still simmer. One evening in February, as the heady, curiously off-season scent of night-blooming jasmine fills the air, Ricki encounters a handsome, deeply mysterious stranger who knocks her world off balance in the most unexpected way. Set against the backdrop of modern Harlem and Renaissance glamour, A' Love Song for Ricki Wilde" is a swoon-worthy love story of two passionate artists drawn to the magic, romance, and opportunity of New York, and whose lives are uniquely and irreversibly linked.
"Love in Color: Mythical Tales from Around the World, Retold" by Bolu Bablola
A high-born Nigerian goddess, who has been beaten down and unappreciated by her gregarious lover, longs to be truly seen. A young businesswoman attempts a great leap in her company – and an even greater one in her love life. A powerful Ghanaian spokeswoman is forced to decide whether she should uphold her family's politics or be true to her heart. In her debut collection, internationally acclaimed writer Bolu Babalola retells the most beautiful love stories from history and mythology with incredible new detail and vivacity. Focusing on the magical folktales of West Africa, Babalola also reimagines Greek myths, ancient legends from the Middle East, and stories from long-erased places. With an eye towards decolonizing tropes inherent in our favorite tales of love, Babalola has created captivating stories that traverse across perspectives, continents, and genres.
"Royal Holiday" by Jasmine Guillory
Vivian Forest has been out of the country a grand total of one time, so when she gets the chance to tag along on her daughter Maddie's work trip to England to style a royal family member, she can't refuse. She's excited to spend the holidays taking in the magnificent British sights, but what she doesn't expect is to become instantly attracted to a certain Private Secretary and his charming accent and unyielding formality. Malcolm Hudson has been the Queen's Private Secretary for years and has never given a personal, private tour ... until now. He is intrigued by Vivian the moment he meets her and finds himself making excuses just to spend time with her. When flirtatious banter turns into a kiss under the mistletoe, things snowball into a full-on fling. Despite a ticking timer on their holiday romance, they are completely fine with ending their short, steamy fling come New Year's Day ... or are they?
Nonfiction
"Meals, Music, and Muses: Recipes from My African American Kitchen" by Alexander Smalls
Iconic chef and world-renowned opera singer Alexander Smalls marries two of his greatest passions―food and music―in Meals, Music, and Muses. More than just a cookbook, Smalls takes readers on a delicious journey through the South to examine the food that has shaped the region. Each chapter is named for a type of music to help readers understand the spirit that animates these recipes. Complete with anecdotes of Smalls’s childhood in the Low Country and examinations of Southern musical tradition, Meals, Music, and Muses is a heritage cookbook in the tradition of Edna Lewis’s A Taste of Country Cooking.
"Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African-American Cooking" by Toni Tipton-Martin
Throughout her career, Toni Tipton-Martin has shed new light on the history, breadth, and depth of African American cuisine. She’s introduced us to Black cooks, some long forgotten, who established much of what’s considered to be our national cuisine. After all, if Thomas Jefferson introduced French haute cuisine to this country, who do you think actually cooked it? Through recipes and stories, we cook along with these pioneering figures, from enslaved chefs to middle- and upper-class writers and entrepreneurs. "Jubilee" presents techniques, ingredients, and dishes that show the roots of African American cooking – deeply beautiful, culturally diverse, fit for celebration.
"Black Food: Stories, Art, and Essays"
In this stunning and deeply heartfelt tribute to Black culinary ingenuity, Bryant Terry captures the broad and divergent voices of the African diaspora through the prism of food. With contributions from more than 100 Black cultural luminaries from around the globe, the book moves through chapters exploring parts of the Black experience, from Homeland to Migration, Spirituality to Black Future, offering delicious recipes, moving essays, and arresting artwork. As much a joyful celebration of Black culture as a cookbook, "Black Food" explores the interweaving of food, experience, and community through original poetry and essays. Visually stunning artwork from such notables as Black Panther Party creative director Emory Douglas and artist Sarina Mantle are woven throughout, and the book includes a signature musical playlist curated by Bryant.
"The Black Joy Project" by Kleaver Cruz
Black joy is everywhere. From the bustling streets of Lagos to hip-hop blasting through apartment windows in the Bronx. From the wide-open coastal desert of Namibia to the lush slopes of Jamaica’s Blue Mountains. From the thriving tradition of Candomblé in Bahia to the innovative and trendsetting styles of Soweto, and beyond, Black joy is present in every place that Black people exist. "The Black Joy Project" puts joy on the same track as protest and resistance … because that is how life is actually lived. Uprisings in the street, with music as accompaniment. Heartbreaking funerals followed by second line parades. Microaggressions in the office, then coming home to a warm hug and a garden of lilacs. The list goes on.
"Inciting Joy: Essays" by Ross Gay
Prizewinning poet and author Gay considers the joy we incite when we care for each other, especially during life’s inevitable hardships. Throughout "Inciting Joy," he explores how we can practice recognizing that connection, and also, crucially, how we can expand it. Taking a clear-eyed look at injustice, political polarization, and the destruction of the natural world, Gay shows us how we might resist, how the study of joy might lead us to a wild, unpredictable, transgressive, and unboundaried solidarity. In fact, it just might help us survive.
"This is the Honey: An Anthology of Contemporary Black Poets"
Featuring work from well-loved poets such as Rita Dove, Jericho Brown, Warsan Shire, Ross Gay, Tracy K. Smith, Terrance Hayes, Morgan Parker, and Nikki Giovanni, "This Is the Honey" is a rich and abundant offering of language from the poets giving voice to generations of resilient joy, “each incantation,” as Mahogany L. Browne puts it in her titular poem, is “a jubilee of a people dreaming wildly.”
"Nature Swagger: Stories and Visions of Black Joy in the Outdoors" by Rue Mapp
"Nature Swagger" presents thirty life-changing stories of self-discovery, courage, and healing in the natural world. Told through first-person narratives, essays, and poems, this uplifting collection celebrates the many ways that outdoor spaces offer Black people opportunities for personal empowerment, connection, and rejuvenation. Readers will immerse themselves in stories told from mountains, redwood forests, city parks, and far-off beaches: joining a woman on her courageous journey up Kilimanjaro, meeting a couple teaching the art of beekeeping in urban Detroit, and following a long-distance swim alongside a pod of dolphins-plus so much more. Interspersed are essays by author and celebrated outdoor leader, Rue Mapp, honoring the rich history and traditions surrounding Black people's relationship to the outdoors.